Loyalty counts in the casino world. Regardless of whether you’re a small stakes novice or rolling with big stacks, NJ online casinos like to give back what they receive.

In other words, if you show them love, they’ll show you love in the form of bonuses, free spins, and more. To break it down for you, we’re going to shine a light on the industry’s top loyalty programs. This week, we’ve cast our critical eye of the reward systems at Golden Nugget and 888 Casino.

Enter the Golden Rewards Player’s Club

Log in to Golden Nugget and the Golden Rewards Player’s Club awaits.

Backed by the tagline, “You Play, We Pay,” this is a loyalty scheme with a difference. Although the fundamental principle of points for bets has been adhered to, Golden Nugget has gone beyond that and introduced some extra options into the mix:

• $100 wagered on slots will earn you five Golden Points.
• $100 wagered on table games, blackjack, roulette or video poker will earn one Golden Point.
• You’ll earn 10 Golden Points each day that you place a real money wager between 1 a.m. ET and 1 a.m. ET the following day.
• Each day you make a deposit between $50 and $99, you’ll earn 20 Golden Points.
• Each day you make a deposit of $100 or more, you’ll earn 40 Golden Points.

Multiple ways to boost your balance

As you can see, this operator gives you points for a variety of things. Placing a certain number of bets is the standard way to earn points here and elsewhere in the industry. Like its peers, Golden Nugget NJ online casino values slots bets more than anything else. In fact, when you play here, spinning reels is worth 5X more than any other form of betting.

In context, $100 is a fairly lofty target and one that low stakes players may struggle to meet multiple times in a single day. However, the reason this program stands out is that you can earn points just for being active.

As long as you place at least one real money wager in a day, you’ll earn 10 Golden Points. Therefore, even if you’re a casual player, there’s no reason you can’t earn at least a handful of points each week.

Beyond that, deposits also earn you points. Everyone, regardless of your status, can and will make a deposit if you’re going to play for real money. This, again, is a huge selling point and one of the reasons Golden Nugget’s loyalty program is one of the best around for NJ online casinos.

Trade Golden Points for cash

OK, so that’s the logistics, but what can you get in return? Well, once you’ve earned a few points (at least 100), you can start redeeming them for real cash at an exchange rate of 100 Golden Points for $1. Although you can only make two conversions per day, the money you’ll receive is real.

In other words, you can withdraw it instantly. That’s something other loyalty schemes don’t offer and, perhaps, the best reason to become a member of the Golden Rewards Player’s Club.

888 Casino: The loyalty program for serious players

For something a little more traditional, 888 Casino has a simple bets-for-points-for-cash system. Known as Status Points, this scheme works on the following simple premise:

Bet $10 and earn one Status Point.

Once you earn 100 Status Points, you’ll be able to convert them for cash at a rate of 100/$1. As with Golden Nugget, rewards are yours to keep, which is nice. However, the thing to note here is that 888 Casino’s rewards system is more suited to high volume players. Because there are no other ways to earn points than to make bets, you’ll only really get a lot back if you put a lot in.

Having said this, the bets-to-points ratio on a like-for-like basis is better at 888 Casino. At Golden Nugget, you’ll earn one point for every $20 wagered on slots. So, on that basis, it’s twice as easy to earn 888 Casino Status Points than Golden Points.

However, as we’ve said, there are other ways to earn points at Golden Nugget and that makes it easier to earn points.

Which NJ online casino loyalty program is for you?

In our opinion, the better overall system is the Golden Rewards Player’s Club. Does that mean you should put all your efforts into this? If you’re a low stakes player, the answer is probably yes. That doesn’t mean you should ignore what 888 Casino has to offer.

Simplicity is often a blessing in disguise when it comes to loyalty programs.

Because the industry can be complex and confusing at times, it’s nice to have a system that’s easy to follow. In practice, high rollers will earn more at 888 Casino than the casuals. However, both schemes are a great way to get more for your time online and certainly investing some time in if you’re a fan of games at NJ online casinos.